Boolean Operators

Tip:
Advanced searching also offers Boolean operators which you can use without typing the CCL command statement. See Advanced Searches.

The Boolean operators And, Or, and Not combine search terms:

: And - A record must match both the term before and the term after the operator to be included in the search results.

Example:
AU=isaac asimov AND TI=planets
Finds only the items written by Isaac Asimov that have the word planets in the title.

: Or - A record can match either the term before or the term after the operator, or both, to be included in the search results.

Example:
AU=isaac asimov OR TI=planets
Finds all items written by Isaac Asimov and all items with the word planets in the title by any author, including Asimov.
If you have a number of terms to combine with OR, type the command this way:
AU={list}asimov, dick, ballard, lem, capek{/list}
You can insert as many terms as you need between {list} and {/list}

: Not - A record must match the term before the operator, but not the term after the operator, to be included in the search results.

Example:
AU=isaac asimov NOT TI=planets
Finds only those items written by Isaac Asimov that do not have the word planets in the title.

If you use multiple operators in the same search command, use parentheses to group the operations to be performed.

To search for text that includes an operator or special character as part of the search text, put the text in double quotation marks. For example, to find the title Bud, Not Buddy, type this command:
TI = “bud not buddy”